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Topic Review (Newest First)

03-02-2012 07:57 PM

garrell.770

history of

It would still be a desirable car today, it was purchased as a family car where mine was built for one thing only. I am kind of parcial to the big cars myself. One of my favorite cars is a 1970 Pontiac Bonneville with the two four barrell option.

Garrell

03-02-2012 06:57 PM

cobalt327

Hi Garrell. My 427 Impala SS didn't run anywhere near that good, more of a "Gentleman's Express".

I originally wanted him to get a '69 Z-28 but there was no way- he liked his big cars w/big engines (we had a Bonneville, Riviera, Chrysler 300G at one time or another). When the Z-28 and BBC Malibu got shot down we ended up w/the Impala. For whatever reason he didn't care for '68-'69 A-cars and the '70 wasn't out yet...

03-02-2012 02:43 AM

garrell.770

history of chevy v8

Good to hear from you, we bump into each other every few weeks. Again I am going on my brothers memory, my SS Impala was a red 67. With a cam change, headers and it was ordered with a 4:11 rear gear it would pull the front wheels off the pavement enough that it colasped the front suspension, oh yeah power steering and no other power robbing option. Magazines never talked about how many of any model was made back then but total 67 SS 427's produced was 1930.

Garrell

03-02-2012 01:38 AM

cobalt327

I also had a 427/390 HP Impala, a 1969 SS. Was my Dad's before I got it. I wanted a Malibu 400, but he was paying the freight, sooo we got the A-body instead. Had the white w/gold 'thread' interior, buckets, console, TH400 w/the horseshoe shifter. Had those fiber optic light sensors on the front fenders. Big, comfy ride w/a good top end. Not so much of a 1/4 miler, though.

03-01-2012 10:28 PM

garrell.770

history of chevy v8

Saw one ommission somwhere, the LQ4 truck engine was listed with 325 hp. but the engine that lot of hottrodders look for in junkyards is the LQ9 truck engine with four bolt , cross bolted 345 hp. I landspeed race a 2003 SS Silverado truck and set a landspeed class record at the Maxton Mile last Oct. at 127.999 mph in a 5400 lb.truck. I have an appointment next Tuesday at an LS platform performance shop, my truck is already updated to 365 hp. and next weeks improvements is going to produce 50+ hp. Leaving April 26 to run the first ever Ohio Mile and hopefully get two more landspeed records and I have a goal of running 130 to 135 mph.
Was fortunate enough own a 63 split window coupe with fuel injection.
A 67 Corvette, 427 ci. 390 hp.
A ss Impala 427 ci. 390 hp.
A 63, 409 Impala SS, 400 hp
Two original 69 Z28'S 302 ci, 290 hp +++
Lots of 265, 283, 327, and 350 ci. chevys
Two mid 90's Z28, LT1 engines

This is a great thread, congrats.
Garrell Patterson

03-01-2012 06:45 AM

cobalt327

Quote:

Originally Posted by stich626

and colbalt, the "400" big block was in trucks (really a 402)
I've yet to see an a body with a 400 badge and a 402 factory installed..
and I've been to 5 chevellabrations ..

That's a wasted slam dunk on a post over 4 years old, if you had looked, you're talking to a poster who hasn't been on the board since early '04. Kind of like talking to the wall. Also, the issue was addressed early on in the thread.

haha didn't look at the dates, just used the forums "todays post" search and this thread was there..

and colbalt, the "400" big block was in trucks (really a 402)
I've yet to see an a body with a 400 badge and a 402 factory installed..
and I've been to 5 chevellabrations ..
my 71 elcamino was listed as a 396 and was a 402.. iirc the 402 was dead after 72 and the 454 was the lone big block in pass cars..
trucks got the 366/427 tall deacks or a 454

02-29-2012 10:54 PM

68NovaSS

Quote:

Originally Posted by stich626

sorry, your info is incorrect..
g.m. chevy had a 400 c.i.d, small block in those years.
earlier they had 402 big blocks basicly 396 30 over

the wagons of 75-76 it WAS a 400 small block..
the big block was a 454 in those years.. the 396 based 402 was long since dead by then

That's a wasted slam dunk on a post over 4 years old, if you had looked, you're talking to a poster who hasn't been on the board since early '04. Kind of like talking to the wall. Also, the issue was addressed early on in the thread.

02-29-2012 10:12 PM

cobalt327

Quote:

Originally Posted by stich626

sorry, your info is incorrect..
g.m. chevy had a 400 c.i.d, small block in those years.
earlier they had 402 big blocks basicly 396 30 over

the wagons of 75-76 it WAS a 400 small block..
the big block was a 454 in those years.. the 396 based 402 was long since dead by then

The BBC 402 was also called a "400" is some GM literature and was marketed as a 400 in the A-body for instance.

02-29-2012 08:12 PM

stich626

Quote:

Originally Posted by hatch03

This is to sayman 1, Im not trying to be a smart ***, but in your big block list you forgot the all important 400 BIG BLOCK marketed in 1975-76 in taxi cabs and station wagons. And thank you for the information on the 409 and 348 engines,we just had a discussion about them at work this past Friday Bill

sorry, your info is incorrect..
g.m. chevy had a 400 c.i.d, small block in those years.
earlier they had 402 big blocks basicly 396 30 over

the wagons of 75-76 it WAS a 400 small block..
the big block was a 454 in those years.. the 396 based 402 was long since dead by then

02-29-2012 07:08 PM

topwrench

This ia a very good thread n I thought Id bring it back!!!

08-11-2010 12:30 PM

oldbogie

Quote:

Originally Posted by topwrench

There were 2 sets of different OHC s.b. heads at Motor Tech (Smokeys shop)
Motor tech was behind the truck shop on Beach street,both sets of heads were stored in the "breezeway" garages,same place were the "Mystery engine" was, one set was SOHC the other set was DOHC, neither set produced as much power as the pushrod heads. There was a lot of other stuff there,like a distributor with 8 sets of points, big block with automatic trans fitted to the front of block,this was an early attempt at dry sumping.2 Indy engines,209 c.i.d.,The remains of the Curtis Turner, Cale Yarborough wrecked Chevelle,Smokey was by far the greatest contributor to the the development of the small block,to this day many of the mods we do to the s.b. were invented and developed at his shop.No mention of the s.b. chevy can be made without giving the man credit for what he did for us all.
I was really surprised at G.M. for not using the Adiabatic engine developed at his shop.The man was a true GENIUS.
WE miss you Smoke.

But NASCAR has changed from engineers and mechanics as the kings to the cult of the driver. The latter sells to a bigger audience as sports hero's. The crazy, heavy smoking, hard drinking, womanizing drivers of years ago are things of the past, doesn't sell to church going right wing soccer/hockey mom's and red neck dads. And the left wingers just see car racing as an affront on the environment and want it gone.

The carb restrictor plate is probably the device that did the change, no longer was NASCAR a battle between engine and chassis builders, it's become a simple survival game on one hand by avoiding the inevitable accidents in the pack and driving skill and race philosophy on the other to determine the winner. No more Freddie Lorenzen with so much lead that when he ran out of gas on the last turn of the last lap, he had enough momentum to coast almost to the finish line and crossed it on the starter motor to take the win as the next car was so far behind he could close the distance quite fast enough, almost but not quite. This is not to say that current NSCAR engine and chassis builders aren't as great today as in the good old days, but to say the rules are out ahead of them and no one can make a set up that is extraordinarily different from anyone else's.

I look at NASCAR technology for application to other places but from my stand point as a builder it's just gotten so ho-hum, I don't care about it. Watching some pimply faced kid stab the throttle and aim the car just doesn't interest me and the speed channel with their interviews and post mortems is just boring beyond belief. But now watching a battle between engineering principles and I'm right there.

The attempts by GM and Ford to find more power thru overhead cams just never paid enough dividend in terms of power against the complication, weight, space and reliability issues. A cam-in-block design is extremely efficient in all these categories. The Ford SOHC 427 was a case in point. The Ford 427 wedge was an engine that like the Chevy W motor had reached its structural limit with 427 inches and 500 horsepower and just couldn't be kept together any longer. The cammer took the 427's issues one step beyond. Chevy did a major redesign on the W block and put new heads on it which we still have since it went from mystery motor to Rat. For Ford NASCAR took one look and said NO. When they said yes to the RB block Chrysler Hemi, they had to change the rule in place since 1958 that banned hemi engines because they just couldn't stand to loose attendance by the Chrysler crowd still living on memories of the Kiekhaefer camp's hemis of the mid 1950s. All this made the Ford 429/460 an inevitable event it was just too late, the energy crisis of 1972 ended the era that was already being choked by insurance companies and environmentalists. Soon we'll have the NASCAR generic engine so all differentiation will be gone. NASCAR is becoming like formula Vee or Formula Ford but for the stock car crowd.

Bogie

08-11-2010 07:13 AM

topwrench

Quote:

Originally Posted by Speedshift_Sam

Anybody ever see the photgraph of the only protoype Chevy V-12? It appearantly was a pair of 292 truck 6 poppers, with one turned backwards, a custom crank and oilpan, and twelve Rochester 2gc carbs. Project was dropped shortly after it's conception in 1962.
Or how about the SOHC small block shunned by Henry "Smokey" Yunick in 1967?

There were 2 sets of different OHC s.b. heads at Motor Tech (Smokeys shop)
Motor tech was behind the truck shop on Beach street,both sets of heads were stored in the "breezeway" garages,same place were the "Mystery engine" was, one set was SOHC the other set was DOHC, neither set produced as much power as the pushrod heads. There was a lot of other stuff there,like a distributor with 8 sets of points, big block with automatic trans fitted to the front of block,this was an early attempt at dry sumping.2 Indy engines,209 c.i.d.,The remains of the Curtis Turner, Cale Yarborough wrecked Chevelle,Smokey was by far the greatest contributor to the the development of the small block,to this day many of the mods we do to the s.b. were invented and developed at his shop.No mention of the s.b. chevy can be made without giving the man credit for what he did for us all.
I was really surprised at G.M. for not using the Adiabatic engine developed at his shop.The man was a true GENIUS.
WE miss you Smoke.

01-25-2008 02:02 PM

Chevrolet4x4s

Quote:

Originally Posted by hatch03

NO NO NO Poncho, I worked for a Chevy dealer during that era (23 yaers) and there were 400 big blocks

.030'' over 396 Marketed as 396 400 AND 402.

Shane

01-25-2008 01:50 PM

oldbogie

Actually Ed Cole brought what would become the Chevy Small Block with him when came over to Chevrolet from Cadillac. It was something the engineers in the back room had been working on that was considered "too cheap" or "cheesy" to be used in a Caddie.

Sometimes you don't know what you've got till it's gone.

Bogie

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